Sunday, March 29, 2015

Ever wondered how the various National Weather Service Offices around the country differ in terms of their social interactions? Periodically during the previous two years, I systematically counted the number of Facebook Likes and Twitter followers for each NWS Office around the country. My jury-rigged system allows me to do the tallies in about an hour or so (the mapping part actually takes longer). These maps represent the latest update of this project.

The following maps represent social media interactions as determined on March 28, 2015. There are two Facebook maps and two Twitter maps. In each section, there is a raw number of interactions and a rate (per 100,000 population) of interactions. In the case of Alaska, there are three NWS Offices but a single, shared Facebook page. However, each office has its own Twitter feed and there is a statewide feed. For this analysis, the Alaska Twitter feeds were combined into a single number so that a comparison with Facebook Likes can be made. The final section shows some comparative relationships between Facebook and Twitter interactions.

Facebook:

Figure 1. Raw number of Facebook Likes for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Figure 2. Rate of Facebook Likes per 100,000 people for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Twitter:

Figure 3. Raw number of Twitter Followers for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Figure 4. Rate of Twitter Followers per 100,000 people for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Note: The Boston and Gray (ME) Forecast Offices swapped a few zone in southern New Hampshire in December 2014. Unfortunately, the maps do not reflect that change

Historical Facebook Likes:

At irregular intervals, I collect NWS Office Facebook Like totals. The follow six maps show the evolution of Facebook Likes since July 2013. All of the maps use the same class groupings. I found that it makes the comparisons over time easier to visualize. Unfortunately, I do not have any Twitter data prior to 2015.

Figure H1. Facebook Likes by WFO on July 13, 2013. Total = 772,995.

Figure H2. Facebook Likes by WFO on September 1, 2013. Total = 810,383.

Figure H3. Facebook Likes by WFO on February 2, 2014. Total = 1,012,526.

Figure H4. Facebook Likes by WFO on June 2, 2014. Total = 1,381,511.

Figure H5. Facebook Likes by WFO on August 14, 2014. Total = 1,629,994.

Figure H6. Facebook Likes by WFO on March 28, 2015. Total = 2,296,779.